On Sunday, ACORN Chief Executive Bertha Lewis said the remarks, which were not uttered by Butler, were "without authority and do not reflect the position of the national leadership." Lewis said she would "be personally going to New Orleans to deal with the individual involved."

Less than 24 hours later, Butler was fired. An angry Butler said Monday that the real reason for her firing was not the flap over Obama's visit, but a simmering tussle over assets that ACORN's Louisiana affiliate controls and that the national group covets.

In particular, Butler said headquarters has its eye on a land trust set up by the Louisiana branch. The trust owns five relatively modest houses, she said, and has a bank account of perhaps $60,000 intended for rehabilitation work -- nothing to sneeze at, she said, "in the nonprofit world."

As it happens, ACORN officials agree with Butler that her termination was not carried out only as retribution for the Obama critique. Rather, according to an ACORN official who would speak only on background, the episode was "reflective of a lack of accountability to process" on Butler's part.

Butler had repeatedly breached ACORN protocol, and this was the most recent instance, he said.

"Normally, the theory is that locals can speak for themselves, " said the official. "But this is in a time of severe challenge for us, and they were criticizing the president of the United States. If they had criticized Ray Nagin, we'd have nothing to say about it."

The "severe challenge" he described is an effort to recover from a series of scandals that have rocked the organization and threaten its survival. The most devastating was a series of videos in which two guerrilla journalists posed as a prostitute and a pimp, and received counseling from ACORN employees on how to avoid paying taxes on brothel income.

That scandal was preceded by revelations that ACORN employees had registered dozens of phony voters before the last election. And before that, it emerged that Dale Rathke, brother of ACORN's founder, New Orleans-bred Wade Rathke, had embezzled nearly $1 million from the group. Instead of announcing he'd been caught, selected group leaders allowed him to quietly repay the money over a period of years.

The last scandal resulted in the ouster of Wade Rathke, who also happens to be the longtime companion of Butler. The two have lived together for decades and raised two children together, Butler said.

Butler, who has worked for ACORN for 37 years, said her real sin in the eyes of the national organization's leaders was a failure to concede to their demands. In particular, she said, she had led resistance to a demand to turn over the land trust, called the ACORN Community Land Association of Louisiana, to the national group.

"We were told by national ACORN that we had to give it up to them, " she said. "We got e-mails threatening our jobs because we didn't push the land trust people to hand over property and money to the New York people who took over ACORN."

Butler passed along an e-mail message from Lewis calling Butler's behavior regarding the land trust "unacceptable."

The national entity is also making a play for roughly $90,000 in hurricane relief money controlled by the local group, Butler said.

"It's hardball here, " she said. "Our local resources are being spirited to New York. ACORN Louisiana is the most lucrative chapter in the country, and we knew they were aiming to take us over. There's a major meltdown in ACORN. They're trying to scramble all of us who would fight them."

ACORN's criticism of Obama's original itinerary -- essentially, that it was too short and did not include a stop in the Lower 9th Ward -- was voiced by Vanessa Gueringer, an unpaid volunteer who heads the group's Lower 9th Ward chapter.

"I'm thrilled that he's coming, " Gueringer said of the president on Saturday. "But, " she added, "we want to see that change that you ran your platform on. We want to see the hope that symbolized your campaign in our neighborhood."

The day after Gueringer's remarks, the Obama administration announced it was adding a stop in the Lower 9th, at Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School.

Gueringer said Monday that she has not received a phone call or an e-mail message from the White House expressing any vexation with her comments.

She said the episode simply provided a convenient smokescreen for ACORN leaders to fire Butler.

"It all goes back to Wade, " she said. "They're angry at Wade, even though Wade's money was paid back. There's been a relentless campaign to destroy the New Orleans chapter of ACORN. Wade founded this organization. They would not have jobs today if Wade hadn't done that. This is all a lie, it's all a smear campaign."

The ACORN official, speaking on background, said Butler was not terminated because of her ties to Rathke. In fact, he said, the organization took pains "to give her a chance to earn her stripes and show she was not part of the legacy Wade left" in the wake of his ouster last year.

The official also disputed Butler's claim that the national group is covetous of Louisiana ACORN's assets. He said the assets were minimal and "not worth fighting over."

As for the land trust, he said, the national group had decided to "set it free" by cutting ties with it. "We have no intention nor desire to control its assets, " he said.

He said Butler was fired for "strict personnel reasons."

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Gordon Russell can be reached at grussell@timespicayune.com or at 504.826.3300.